Senior B Mohawks switch leagues
The Senior B Kahnawake Mohawks played exhibition games last year against Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League teams, and this year the games will count. Courtesy Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League
Instead of spending another year as the lone team in the Quebec Senior Lacrosse League (QSLL), the Kahnawake Senior B Mohawks will play their upcoming season in the Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League (TNSLL).
They will join the Akwesasne Bucks, Capital Region Axemen, and Snake Island Muskies, all of whom they competed against last year in exhibition games.
“For 15 years or so, the QSLL and the TNSLL played a crossover schedule, where they would play exhibition games against each other, to increase the number of games per year,” said Greg Horn, general manager of the Senior B Mohawks.
“We always worked together to try to make sure everybody got the right number of games. That was the practice for the last little while, especially there were some years where QSLL had three, four teams and the TNSLL had one or two.”
As the only team in the QSLL last year, the Mohawks did not have any teams to compete against in their own league, so instead of a crossover, they played exhibition games against TNSLL teams.
The team had hoped that more teams would compete in the QSLL this season, but as the offseason progressed, that did not materialize, and they would have found themselves as the only team in the league once again.
“Given that there were no new teams, we decided to reach out to them and see if we could just join their league instead of competing as a crossover,” said Horn.
Having the games be normal regular season games instead of being treated as exhibitions will be better for everyone according to Horn.
“Against some teams, we had difficulty in scheduling games and having their players want to come play a game that didn’t really mean anything,” said Horn.
He said that this year will be a good opportunity for the Mohawks, and they’ll be looking forward to competing for the President’s Cup.
Kenneth Martin, executive director of the First Nations Lacrosse Association - the governing body under which TNSLL competes - said it was a good opportunity for the league, too.
“It’s always a good thing when a league is able to expand,” said Martin.
“It really helps with competition and player development when you have a variety of teams to play against.”
Martin acknowledged that Kahnawake joining the TNSLL due to the absence of teams in the QSLL is not a localized issue, but one that is pervasive right now for Senior B lacrosse.
“There has been a lot of talking across Canada about getting the Senior B leagues back to where they were pre-COVID. It’s not just TNSLL. It’s happening all across Canada,” said Martin.
“Our goal is to develop Senior B, there’s no reason it can’t be up there with Senior A, or the major leagues. I believe we have the talent all across the leagues and organizations.”
For the immediate future, Martin is happy that Kahnawake will be able to play with TNSLL.
“We’re really happy that they’ve come aboard, it should be a great season up there,” said Martin.
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The schedule for the upcoming season is still being finalized, and will be published on First Nation Lacrosse’s website at firstnationslacrosse.com
